🔗 Share this article Our Ten Most Outstanding International Records of the Year 2025 The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global sounds that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music. Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive percussion might not seem the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a strangely alluring work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language across the record's ten sections. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ritual music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world. Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget Following an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, singing delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, yearning vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and subtle, yet this simplicity creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to shine through. This is a record that justifies the wait. 8. Debit – Slowed Down Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reworkings of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of murk and hiss to produce a novel, foreboding beat. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo. Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora! Maximalism is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly liberating. Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably engaging blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion. Number Five: Enji – Resonance Mongolian singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the gentle acoustics of her distinctive voice. Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They create smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a fresh, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global sounds that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music. Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive percussion might not seem the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a strangely alluring work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language across the record's ten sections. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ritual music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world. Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget Following an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, singing delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, yearning vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and subtle, yet this simplicity creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to shine through. This is a record that justifies the wait. 8. Debit – Slowed Down Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reworkings of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of murk and hiss to produce a novel, foreboding beat. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo. Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora! Maximalism is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly liberating. Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably engaging blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion. Number Five: Enji – Resonance Mongolian singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the gentle acoustics of her distinctive voice. Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They create smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a fresh, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim